US Supreme Court rejects final appeal, Sallie executed for killing father-in-law

Georgia: The state of Georgia on Tuesday executed a man convicted of murdering his father-in-law, after the US Supreme Court rejected his lawyers' final appeal.

William Sallie, 50, was put to death by lethal injection at 10:05 pm (0305 GMT Wednesday) at the state prison in Jackson, according to correctional authorities in the southeastern state.

He "accepted a final prayer and recorded a final statement", the state's Department of Corrections said in a news release, without providing details.

Sallie was convicted of fatally shooting his father-in-law in 1990 and injuring his mother-in-law following a custody battle with his estranged wife over their son.

His original death sentence was overturned because of a conflict of interest related to his lawyer. Sallie was again convicted and sentenced to death in 2001 following a second trial.

According to Sallie's lawyers, a female jury member during the second trial had pressured fellow jurors and lied about her past, alleged bias that could lead to the verdict's annulment.

But Sallie missed a filing deadline to request a federal review of the case, at which point he no longer had a lawyer advising him.

On Monday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency petition from Sallie's current defense team.

The pace of executions is declining in the United States, due to a combination of factors, including a shortage of the drugs used to carry out lethal injections.

Georgia, however, is bucking the trend, having put more people to death this year than Texas, the state that usually carries out the most executions nationwide.

According to Norman Fletcher, a former chief justice of the Georgia State Supreme Court, Sallie's lack of representation at a crucial time is a federal issue.

"The United States Supreme Court has not ruled that the Constitution guarantees a right to an attorney during the critical post-conviction review stage in state courts," he wrote in an opinion piece published this week in The New York Times.

"Georgia continues to deny counsel -- and denies a man like William Sallie the opportunity to defend his life."